Q5. We read so much about rapidly changing technology in the maritime world, but how do you think this is likely to impact the role of the next generation of marine surveyors? A. With changing technologies I feel the next generation will be far more academically impacted then past or current generations. There is so much more to be aware of. New materials, coatings, systems will prove more daunting and will result in more specified fields some of which are just emerging. New tools for surveying activities from drone programs and wireless monitoring to flat plate Radar will need to be part of a surveyor’s understanding and standard training. While there are more programs of training and access to that training there are many more avenues of study. Additionally the next group of surveyors will need be far more focused on their own education as older surveyors that might have been mentors may not have kept up with new technologies.
Q6. What is the strangest, or most dangerous thing you have experienced or witnessed as a surveyor? A. The strangest and most dangerous single activity noted was the near instant collapse of a ferro cement vessel’s deck as she was being rolled up on a rail way. With two surveyors aboard so that we might monitor changes to a 40 meter formerly square rigged sailing vessel that was being pulled up a marine rail. The steel grid for the hull was not seen as it was imbedded in the cement of the hull. We quickly realized the vessel was spreading from its own weight as we left the water and we could hear the steel frame work snapping. In amazement from the wheel house we could see the main deck pull away from the hull sides. It took a moment to radio the operator and by that time the wheel house deck was actually sagging-something out of a movie. Now what do we do? The hull was cracked and bulged amidships just above the water line for several meters. We were quite relieved to get off what would become an addition to a fishing reef.
Q7. What regulatory changes have you seen over the past decade and which have been the most challenging to oversee? A. The regulations I find most challenging have to do with bilge water and ballast water management. There is nothing too complex except that operators are resistant to comply and frustrated by reporting.
Q8. When you stop surveying at the end of the day, how do you like to relax and what hobbies or pastimes do you enjoy? A. At the end of the day in order to sweep out the mental clutter, I would find myself again out on the water but with a fishing rod. The attempt is to find that trophy Striped Bass that somehow ends up on the other fisherman’s line.
Q9.
Please tell readers of The Report Magazine one interesting fact about James Renn that they are unlikely to know. A. Really do not know if this is interesting but after the hammering and welding my first wish was to be a classically trained Chef. Actually had two years of some of the first on line training. These days fancy myself a fairly well trained amateur saucier.
74 | The Report • March 2017 • Issue 79
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